Summary: A short one-person monologue, in which Martha tells about the death and resurrection of her brother Lazarus.Style: Dramatic. Duration: 4minActors: 1F

Character: Martha, sister of Lazarus and Mary.

Script

(Martha enters, crying.)

MARTHA’S CRISIS

Why has he not come? We thought he loved us – Lazarus, Mary and me. So when Lazarus got sick, we immediately sent a message to Jesus. And then we waited… and waited. And nothing. No word… No visit…Nothing.

And then my brother, my only brother Lazarus died. (crying). Of course we called the doctor to come. But there was nothing he could do. We didn’t really expect it. How painful it was to see my brother dying and we can’t do anything for him. My heart broke when I saw him breath his last breathe.

But where is Jesus? Why oh why did he not come? We knew he could heal Lazarus. We have seen him heal so many people of every disease you can think of. And he has been such a loving friend to us. So of course at first he was the only person we thought of to help.

But now, Lazarus is dead. We sent an urgent message. But that was four days ago, and … he has not come. Not even for Lazarus’s funeral. We have lost our brother and Jesus is nowhere to be found. Where is he when we needed him the most? Why did he cure all those sick people and he did not cure his own friend? What are we going to do?

(Martha is sobbing and then she hears a knock on the door. Martha exits, and then returns immediately. She is now happy, and talks to the audience.)

You are not going to believe this! I can hardly believe it myself. It is the most amazing thing I have ever known.

Jesus is here. When I heard Jesus had arrived, I rushed out to him, crying so hard I could barely see where I was going. I have to admit, for a moment I was in two minds. I asked myself, “Should I still go to him? Lazarus is already dead. What’s the use?” But I needed to see him. I needed to know why he did not come.

I fell down in front of him. "Lord," I said, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

Jesus gently lifted me up, and said, “Martha, your brother will rise again." I did not realise he meant now, of course – I thought he meant later, at the end of the world.

“Take me to the cave where he’s buried,” Jesus said, and when we got there, Jesus cried. I have never seen him do that before, and it made me realise he really did care.

Jesus said, “Anyone who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." Then he said, “Roll away the stone in front of the cave.”

“But Jesus,” I said. “Lazarus has been dead for four days. He will stink now.”

What happened next stunned us all. One moment we were all crying fit to burst, and the next we were astonished as Lazarus walked out of the cave. Mixed feelings of joy and fear gushed through me as I saw Lazarus walk, still wrapped in his grace clothes. We could hardly believe it.

“Go on, take off his grave clothes,” Jesus said. We rushed to do that, and then you can’t believe the shouting and singing and dancing. We were so happy we didn’t notice Jesus slip away... except that, I did see.

I hurriedly ran after him and knelt at his feet. With tears of joy streaming down my face I said, “Thank you Lord for bringing back my brother. Forgive me for doubting you. (Standing up and facing the audience) This calls for a celebration. My brother was dead but Jesus brought him back to life. Let’s all go to our house and celebrate life.”

And you can well believe that the celebration went on for the rest of the day and way into the night. Jesus did slip away this time.... when we looked for him he was gone. Just like him. But we’ll see him again soon, and then we can really thank him for this most amazing thing he has done.

Copyright John McNeil 2013, all rights reserved.This script may be used free of royalty payment, provided no charge is made for entry to the performance. In return, the author would like to be told of any performance. He may be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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